He was so confused by this discovery that he could not find his tongue to make reply. The Bats, accepting his silence as proof that his deception had been found out, suddenly beat their wings and set up a terrible uproar.

"It's the Sewer Rat in disguise!" shouted the big leader of the Bats. "Now we'll punish him! Drive him out of the sewer! Peck out his eyes!"

b.u.mper stopped just long enough to realize that he had no chance in a fight against all those whirring wings and little gnashing teeth. If he was to escape at all, he had to get a start on the bats. Even though flight seemed to confirm the suspicions of the Bats, he turned and fled as fast as his four legs would carry him.

There was plenty of room in the sewer, and b.u.mper made such tremendous strides that he outdistanced all but a few of the leaders. They tried to land on his back and claw him, but he shook them off, and dodged this way and that, until the light ahead suddenly became so strong and blinding that the bats gave up the chase.

When b.u.mper finally came to the mouth of the sewer, he was all out of breath, but the view ahead compensated for a lot of his troubles. He could see the blue sky; green fields and waving trees, and near-by the rippling surface of a lake or river. It looked like Paradise after the darkness of the sewer; but all things that glitter, he found out, are not gold, and every earthly Paradise seems to have its serpent lurking somewhere around in the gra.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: They tried to land on his back and claw him]

STORY IX

b.u.mPER ESCAPES ON A RAFT

b.u.mper took a long time to rest and get back some of his breath before he ventured to the very mouth of the open sewer. As soon as he was sure that the bats had abandoned the chase, he threw himself down and closed his eyes from sheer weariness and exhaustion. Then, with returning strength and hope, he raised himself on his two hind legs, and looked around him.

There was water at the mouth of the sewer, and he hopped toward it eagerly. After lapping enough to satisfy his thirst, he began bathing himself. He had never been so dirty before in all his life. He was thankful the red-haired girl wasn't there to see him. She would perhaps disown him.

This thought soothed his feelings a little, and he splashed around in the water until most of the dust and dirt was washed off. Then finding a sunny spot near the entrance, he hopped to it, and sprawled himself out to dry.

Meanwhile, he began examining his surroundings very carefully, and a little anxiously. The sewer dipped down into the river and disappeared from view, and on either side of it, and above it, were very steep walls.

No rabbit could climb them. The only other possible way out of the sewer was by swimming.

Now b.u.mper had never learned to swim. Perhaps he could do it without learning, but he felt afraid. None of his family had been swimmers, and the river was certainly deep. From his place in the sun he could not see bottom.

Once more the thought of returning to the garden by the way he had come occurred to him; but memory of the fierce bats and the Sewer Rat immediately banished all ideas of this kind from his mind. "I'd never go through that dark sewer again for anything," he said, shuddering. "I must go on until I find another way back to the little girl."

b.u.mper's one desire was to return to Edith. He was sorry now that he had ever jumped out of his pen. If he had been contented and stayed where the red-haired girl had put him, he would be eating delicious gra.s.s and vegetables now instead of lying there alone, hungry and afraid to go on or go back.

His hunger came back to him, and gave him a sharp pain in the stomach. "I must have something to eat," he said. "I'm nearly famished."

But there was really nothing in sight that he could eat--not a spear of gra.s.s nor a leaf. Then, just as if to prove to him that manna sometimes falls from heaven to feed even poor, dest.i.tute rabbits, a big leaf came floating down on the wind and fell almost at his feet. b.u.mper grabbed it, and began chewing it greedily.

"Oh, you mean, horrid thing!" chirped a voice. "That leaf belonged to me.

It was for my nest, and the wind blew it out of my bill."

b.u.mper looked up, and saw a small sparrow perched on the top of the embankment over his head.

"I didn't know it was yours, Mrs. Sparrow," b.u.mper replied. "I thought the wind just blew it to me."

"Well, you know it now. Please give it to me."

b.u.mper held the leaf in his mouth, with half of it already chewed up. It tasted so good that the thought of abandoning it was more than he could stand.

"If you need it more than I do, Mrs. Sparrow," he said, "I'll give it to you. But you must prove it."

"Why, of course I do. I need it for my nest."

"And I need it to keep me from starving."

Mrs. Sparrow c.o.c.ked her head sideways and looked queerly at him. "You don't look as if you were starving," she observed. "You're as plump and sleek as any rabbit I ever saw."

"Maybe. But I haven't had any breakfast, and I'm not used to it. This leaf tastes so good I wish I had a hundred more of them."

"Then why don't you go and get them? There are plenty in the park and woods."

"But how am I going to get them?" asked b.u.mper. "Don't you see I'm caught here in the mouth of the sewer. I can't get out without swimming."

Mrs. Sparrow looked surprised at this information, and flew from her perch on the embankment to a stone below. She c.o.c.ked her head sideways, and looked all around her.

"What puzzles me," she said finally, "is how you ever got in there without swimming. You can't fly."

b.u.mper smiled, and shook his head. "No, but I wish I could. I wouldn't stay here arguing with you about this leaf but fly away and get a good breakfast of a lot of them."

"Are you really so hungry, Mr. White Rabbit?"

"Indeed, I am nearly famished."

And then he told Mrs. Sparrow of his adventures in the drain-pipe of the garden and the big abandoned sewer. Mrs. Sparrow was evidently affected by his recital, for she immediately flew away and soon returned with another green leaf.

"Now eat that, and I'll get you another," she said. "I know what it is to go without breakfast and dinner. I've had to do it many times. Now eat your full."

b.u.mper devoured the leaf so quickly that it seemed as if he must have swallowed it without chewing it. "You see, Mrs. Sparrow," he remarked, "you couldn't feed me enough. I have a very big appet.i.te. Why, I could eat leaves much faster than you could bring them to me."

"So it seems," murmured the sparrow in a little surprised voice. "I never realized how much some animals can eat at once. I don't think I can do more than just take the edge of your appet.i.te off."

"That's very kind of you. And I shall be grateful to you! If you'll bring me just a few more leaves, I will then ask you to direct me back to the little girl's garden."

"I'm sure I'd like to, but there are so many gardens around, and they all look alike."

"But there's only one with a red-haired girl in it," replied b.u.mper.

"Can't you fly away, and find her?"

"I'll try," said Mrs. Sparrow.

So after feeding b.u.mper a few more green leaves, she flew away to find the garden. She was gone so long that b.u.mper got very restless and discouraged. The few leaves hadn't satisfied his hunger; they had merely stimulated his desire for more. It was past noon when Mrs. Sparrow finally reappeared at the entrance to the sewer.

"What news?" asked b.u.mper, eagerly.

"Nothing that's good, Mr. White Rabbit. I flew into garden after garden--and all of them pretty, and full of fruits and vegetables--but there was no red-headed girl in any of them. I saw dogs, too--many of them--but I couldn't tell whether any of them answered to the name of Carlo."

"Then it looks to me," remarked b.u.mper, "that I'm in for a long swim.

Where does this river go to?"